Death as the only end to revenge.

While reading through the three Dickinson poems, I noticed a common theme of death as a release from vengeance. Although these poems are not necessarily morbid, they all focus on death as an outlet of escape. In 237, the speaker says after she is “out of sight- in Heaven” will she be forgiven, which infers that she has some sort of guilt and fears retribution from the person she has wronged. She even uses the phrase “con” to infer that she has somehow cheated the other person by dying. 1172 also includes a speaker that is fleeing from the vengeance of nature, which I take to mean man, by hiding away in the security of the tomb. Both of these poems illustrate that vengeance is, unfortunately, a part of human nature and so is the desire to evade it. By framing it as a literal matter of life and death, Dickinson emphasizes the prevalence of revenge in society. While 1509 takes the perspective of the seeker of vengeance, not the guilty party, it also furthers the idea of retribution seeking as life and death when the speaker admits that “Anger as soon as fed is dead” and that only after their revenge is enacted can they move on in their life. Similar to Ahab in Moby Dick, the speaker in 1509 demonstrates a monomaniac focus on revenge.